The Right to Choose

Story by Storyteller

At 21 years old I got pregnant. I got pregnant by someone who I wasn’t in a relationship with. Not that it matters, but he wasn’t the best person in my life. I decided to have an abortion. I was only 2-3 weeks along, again not that it matters. The doctor told me 8 weeks but I knew the exact date it happened. I was on the pill, used a condom, and the morning after pill when the condom broke. It seemed like an act of God that I got pregnant. I did everything right. EVERYTHING. But sometimes life just kicks you in the gut.

A week later my mother took me to Planned Parenthood in Palm Desert CA. Having severe anxiety from being raped by an ex boyfriend at just 19, I was scared for my appointment and exam. The staff at Planned Parenthood helped me through my appointment and the entire medical abortion process. Although this was the hardest decision I had ever had to make I knew it was the right one. I took some pills and got my best friend and we sat at my home and waited. My best friend was with me through it all. I am forever grateful to her for helping me through it. Because I was so early on the physical experience wasn’t very hard, but emotionally it was. Not because I felt ashamed or regretted my decision, but because I knew that if I was in a state without safe access to abortion I would be in a completely different situation. I feel heartbroken over the other women in AMERICA who feel as though their bodies aren’t valued. Now 23 and married to the love of my life who supports not only my decision but the decision of women across AMERICA I couldn’t be happier.

My husband is in the US Army and he supports my right to my own body, I could not be prouder to have a person like him in the military. Although our military journey may be shorter than most, I feel as though he is a TRUE American for supporting not only his wife’s right to choose, but his sisters and my sisters as well and all of the women on this planet. We need more fantastic feminist supportive men like him in this world. Thank you Planned Parenthood for being there for me and making me feel like a person and not just a statistic.